Amusement appliance



ialnle w, 1923.

W. J. M DONALD ET AL AMUSEMENT APPLIANCE Filed March 29, 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 19, 1923.

ET AL AMUSEMENT APPLIANCE W. .J. M DONALD Filed March 29. 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jame 19, 1923.

w. J. MB-CDONALD ET AL AMUSEMENT APPLIANCE Filed March 29. 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Wane/a Patented June 19, l23.

wILrnEn JOHN MACDONALD, runners as. B'LANEY. Ann EDITH MAY MAenonALn;

or WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA.

AMUSEMENT APPLIANCE.

Application filed March 29, 1920. Serial No. 369,682.

DoNriLn, FRANCIS R. BLANEY, and EDITH MAY MACDONALD, all of the city of Tinnipeg in the Province of Manitoba, Canada, have invented certain new and useful 11nprovements in Amusement Appliances, of which the following is the specification.

The invention relates to improvements in amusement appliances and particularly to a machine after the type of the merry-goround, and the principal object of the invention is to provide a driven machine for the amusement of the public which provides a dancing movement, the present machine. being what might be termed a Waltzing ma ence indicate corresponding parts in the sevchine as the movement of the couples thereon is in the nature of a waltz.

A further object of the invention is to construct the machine so that a greater or less amount of turn can be had in the chairs and such that the chairs can be rotated at selected times in different directions as desired.

A still further object of the invention is-to construct the machine so that it can be readily assembled and such that it is formed from a plurality of duplicated units, thereby not only saving in initial cost of production but also in setting up.

With the above more important and other minor objects in View, which will become more apparent as the description proceeds,-

the invention consists essentially in a table, and a plurality of moving carriers mounted on the table and designed to receive the public in pairs and, when driven, tomove in a fixed path and turn during movement and thereby produce the effect of a dancing action, the parts being arranged and construeted as hereinafter more particularly de scribed and later pointed out inthe appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. l is a plan View of the amusement appliance.

Fig. 2 is a side View thereof, part being broken away to expose interior construc tion.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed plan viewof part of the under structure of the device.

Fig. 4} is an enlarged detailed vertical sectional view through onetside of the .ap- .pliance.

Fig. 5 is a plan View of the guide rollers and associated parts.

Fig.6 is a side View of the ing in Figure 5. v

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detailed side view parts appearof one of the cushioning brackets, the sec-- tion being taken at 7-7 Fig. 3. I

are.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detailed vertical sec-. tional view at 88 Fig. 3. I

Fig. 9 is an enlarged detailed vertical sec tional view through the bearing for the chair spindle. p

In the drawings like characters of refereral figures. I y

1 represents a horizontally disposed turntable rotatably mounted as later disclosed within an outer annular platform 2, the y I platform being stationary and being appreached by side steps 3 and 4. The plat- 7 form is carried by floor beams 5 secured to" the upper ends of upright posts 6 located at the outer ends of inwardly extending suit beams 8 which. provide a slightly elevated which receive and support the innerends of The arrangement of the table beam structure is the table supporting beams 13.

best shown in Fig. 3 where it will be seen that the beams are arranged more or less in a Y-shaped form, the outer ends of the beams being all fastened to an edge beam 14 10-: catedvimmediately underneath the under edge of the table.

Whilst we have described the arrangement of these beams in detail it will be readily understood that we do not wish to be limited to the arrangement shown.

shown, however, they are best arranged to co-operate With parts later described. By

' placing the beams in this Y-shaped manner the table.

*to the spindle.

it will be seen that they group themselves in parallel pairs indicated specifically at 15 and 16, the pairs of parallel beams forming guides utilized for controlling the inward or radial movement of the carrierssltortly disclosed.

The weight of the outer edge of the table is supported by suitably disposed rollers 1K operating-on a track 17 carried by the under stationary beam structure 'of'the appliance and the table is driven by a pulley 18 located at the outer end of-adrive shaft 19,

the shaft being fitted atthe'innerend witha bevel pinion 20 which meshes with a bevel -geari21 located at the lower end-"of a vertistructure of allthe-carriersis the same "We have only considered it necessary to de scribe one of'them in detaiL' f 26 is a carriage'located on the tablean'd carried by rollers 27 operating on the top surface ofthe table. The carriages are disposed'radially of the table and are each permanently connected to a sleeve like hearing 28'; which passes through a radially'disposed' slot29 formedin the table,the slot allowing for the in and out radial movement of the" The lower end of the sleevefis carriage. formed integralwith ,two pairs of'extenfding arms 30, 81,332 and 33 and the outer ends of the arms carry guide rollersj34, the guide rollers operating on parallel horizontally disposed tracks 35 and 36 in the nature of angle irons permanently secured to the beam structure ofthe table. 37 and 38 are a pair of oppositely directed seats or chairs ar-. ranged side by side and located centrally of the carriage. Roller bearingsI39 a-re disposed between the chairs andthe carriage to carry the same and a vertically disposed spindle 40 extends upwardly through the.

bearing 28 and has the upper end permanently connected-to a pair of; chairs and the lower end fitted with a. pair; of friction wheels 41 and 42 and a guiding wheel 43; all of said-wheels being permanently secured The guide wheels43' of all the spindles-are received within a guiding channel 44' mounted on the ground beams of the device and this channel can follow any desired shape as suits the whim of the manufacturer.

In the present instance the channel is arranged as-best shown in dotted outline in Fig. l whereit will be observed it presents six angles or turning points and six intervening straight sides. a

"From theabove arrangement it will be apparent that when the table is rotated the carriages will be forced to travel in and out on thetable to comply with the direction of travel -of the rollers 43 in the channel. This movement is given to produce the effect of the in and out movement as occurs when Waltzing; As the wheel 48 of each pair of chairs approachesthe' angles of the track whentravelling we desire to rotate or spin the-chairs to produce the-reversing action as occurs when Waltzing and thisis done by friction {blocks 45 disposed adjoining the angles of the channel 44 and arranged to frictionall-y engage one or other of the friction rollers 41;and' 42.

The blocks 45 are somewhat of an L- shapeand are located to the outer sides. of the friction wheels and they are supported by pairs of brackets 46 and 47 permanently mounted on the ground beams. Referring to Figure 7 it will be seen that each bracket {carriesa spindle "48 received slidably with-' 1n a bearing strap 49 permanently bolted to the underside of the friction block and that the friction blocks are cushioned by -a spiral cushioning spring 50 inserted on the spindle 48 between the'bracket and the :strap.

Whilst we desire to have these friction blocks at theangles of the channel to effeet a rotation ofthe chairs at these points oftravel, still it willbe readily understood thatflfriction blocks could be readily introduced at any place to rotate the chairs.

vIf a quickrotation is required the friction blocks are positioned to engage with the smaller pulleys 42'whilst onthe other hand if a slower rotation is wished they are positioned to engage with the larger friction wheels 41.

By properlyarranging the friction blocks in respect to the channel and friction wheels the chairs will be rotated when the fric- {tion wheels in the movement of the table are brought into riding contact with the friction blocks.

In order to positively limit thetime of spinning of the chairs we'have provided a brake for each pair of chairs, the brake be' ing released during the interval that the friction pulleys are passing the blocks and being operated to automatically stop theretati'on o'f'the chairs after 'theyhave passed the friction blocks.

51-;is a'bracket formed integralwith the arms3l and 33'and carrying apair of pivnose otally mounted partial gears 52 and 53 which are meshed. Arms 54 and 55 extend from the gears and terminate in outwardly extending ends fitted with rollers 56 and 57. The arms 54 and 55 carry brake shoes 58 and 59 which extend downwardly and are directly opposite the periphery of the friction wheels 41. Pressure springs 60 and 61 fastened to the arms act to hold the friction shoes engagedwith the friction wheel 41 unless otherwise disturbed.

As the brakes are actually carried by the arms 31 and 83 which of themselves have no rotary movement, it will be obvious that the chairs cannot rotate when the brakes are applied but will be free to rotate as soon as the brakes are released. The release is effected by employing the friction blocks 45, the outer sides of which are adapted to engage the rollers 56 and 57. If reference be made to Figure 8 and on consider the direction of rotation of the table as indicated by the arrow A, then it will be found that the end of the friction block first engaged is fitted with a tapering This nose is arranged to pick up, so to speak, the friction wheels 41 and 56, the friction wheel 41 passing in and riding the inner side of the friction block, whilst that 56 is drawn out and rides the outer side of the block. The springs 50 assure of a good contact between the friction wheel 41 and the friction block and the action of the block on the pulley 56 is to release the brake shoes from the friction wheel 41 during the interval that the said friction wheel is passing the friction block, thereby allowing the chairs to rotate freely. However, immediately the pulley 56 clears the other end of the friction block the springs 60 and 61 act to draw in the shoes to grab the friction wheel 41 and consequently stop the spinning of the chairs.

In order to show how the chairs can be rotated in either direction as desired we have shown in Fig. 8 a straight friction block 62 located at the inner side of the channel 44 and arranged to engage with the friction wheels and the rollers 57 to rotate the chairs and release and set the brakes. As this friction block is on the opposite side of the channel to the block 45 it will obviously produce an opposite rotation in the friction wheel and consequently spin the chairs in the opposite direction.

When the machine is assembled and operating the couples sit in the chairs and as the table revolves go through the full movement of Waltzing which is the movement for which this particular appliance is designed.

W e do not, however, wish to be limitedto this special movement as by changing the path of travel of the channel and the times at which the chairs are turned various dancing movements can be produced. The

rotatably mounted table, a plurality'ofcarriers mounted on the table and turning with the same, means for effecting an in and out radial movement of the carriers as they travel with the table, means for rotating the carriers around their vertical axes at the ends of their in and out travel and riers'against rotation around their vertical axes during their radial movement.

2. In an amusement appliance, a driven rotatably mounted table, a plurality of carriers mounted on the table and moving therewith, driving spindle extending downwardly from each carrier and through a radial slot provided in the table, a. roller located at the lower end of each spindle, a stationary guiding channel receiving all the rollers and designed to 'eflect an in and out movement of the carriers in respect to the table as they turn with the same and means for eflecting an independent rotary movement of the carriers at predetermined points throughout their travel with the table.

3. In'an amusement appliance, a driven rotatably mounted table, a plurality of carriages mounted on the table and moving with the same, a sleeve like bearing permanently secured to and extending down wardly from each carriage and through a suitable radial slot provided in the table, means for positively preventing the rotation of the bearing sleeve and for guiding it for means for automatically locking the carradial movement in the direction of the slot,

a pair of seats rotatably mounted on each carriage, a vertical spindle permanently seof the carriages in respect to the centre point of the table and as the table rotates and means for rotating the spindles to turn the chairs during predetermined intervals v throughout their travel.

4. In an'amusement appliance, a driven rotatably mounted table,'a plurality'of carriages mounted'on the table and moving with the same, a sleeve like hearing permanently secured to and extending downwardly from each carriage and through a suitable radial slot provided in the table, means for positively preventing the rotation of the bearing sleeve and for guiding it for radial movement in the direction of the slot, a pair of seats rotatably mounted on each carriage, a vertical spindle permanently secured to each pair of seatstand extending downwardly rotatably through the bearing,

' a guiding Wheel secured to the lower end of each spindle, a stationary guiding channel receiving all the Wheels, said channel being designed to efi'ect an in and out movement of the carriages in respect to the centre point of the table and as the table rotates, a

friction Wheel permanently secured to each spindleand a plurality of friction blocks engageable at predetermined instants With the friction wheels and adapted to 'rotate the spindles.

5. In an amusement appliance, a driven rotatably mounted table, a plurality of carriages mounted on the table and moving With the same, a sleeve like hearing permanently secured to and extending down- \vardly from each carriage and through a suitable radial slot provided in the table, means for positively preventing the rotation of the sleeve and for guiding it for radial movement in the direction of the slot, a

pair of seats rotatably mounted on each carriage, a vertical spindle permanently secured to each pair of seats and extending downwardly rotatably through the bearing, a guiding Wheel secured to the lower end of each spindle, a stationary guiding channel receiving all-the Wheels, said channel being designed to efl'ectian in and out movement of the carriages in respect to the centre point of the table and as the table rotates, a friction wheel permanently securedto each spindle, a plurality of friction blocks -engageable at predetermined instantsxwith the friction Wheels and adapted to rotate the spindles and a friction brake associated with each friction Wheel and automatically controlled so thatit is clear of vthe Wheel 1 during the interval that the Wheel is en- 

